The final stop of the 2025 IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series was the best event of the year. The professional categories saw the largest car counts to date, and the racing was some of the best we have seen this season. Darana Motorsports Park – Dunn (formerly GALOT Motorsports Park) was the perfect setting to close out the five-race schedule. Finishing the season with the largest car counts seen all year provided fans with some exciting side-by-side drag racing. The future looks bright for the new IHRA, and although only dates have been announced for the 2026 Outlaw Nitro Series, we all await finding out where the ten races will be held.
Fuel Altered
For the second race of the 2025 IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series, Fuel Altereds were added to the class lineup. Darana Motorsports Park – Dunn had ten of the wild rides show up to find their spot in the eight-car field. Leading the list going into race day was Pete Dove with a 3.645 at 187.68 mph run. Dove faced Tim Barone and Cody Austin before making it to the finals. Number two qualifier Paul Miller’s trip wasn’t easy. He defeated Levi Keenen in the first round and number three qualifier Dan Hix in the semifinals. The finals featured the top two qualifiers battling it out for the event win. Both drivers left the line with nearly identical reaction times, but Dove ran into trouble just past 60 feet., causing him to lift while Miller made a clean pass to the win light. Miller ran 3.725 at 205.54 mph to Dove’s 5.164 at 88.30 mph.
Top Alcohol Funny Car
The eight-car field of Top Alcohol Funny Car was once again led by past event champion Phil Esz. Esz raced number eight Bill Naves in round one and number four Mick Steele in the semifinals. Qualified seventh, Tony Bogolo made it to the back-to-back finals with Esz. As the racers left the starting line, Bogolo left early, turning on the red light and giving Esz the automatic win. Esz went on to run 3.629 at 210.60 mph.
Top Alcohol Dragster
Tom Fox Jr. started race day from the top of the seven-car ladder. After a first-round bye and a win over number five qualifier Jamie Noonan, Fox advanced to the finals. As race day progressed, number six Shane Conway paired up with Fox in the finals. Unfortunately for Conway, he left too soon and turned on the red light, handing the win to Fox.
Pro Mod
A healthy 24-car field of the baddest Pro Mods rolled into Darana Motorsports Park – Dunn looking to take home the $50,000 payday. Claiming the top spot was Ed Marx with a 3.568 at 210.41 mph. Making his Pro Mod debut, Ethan Steding qualified in the 12th spot and worked his way through the field on his way to his first Pro Mod final. Kevin McCurdy, handling driving duties in Eric Gustafson’s Camaro, qualified fifteenth and joined Steding in the finals. Steding had a slight reaction-time advantage over McCurdy and carried that lead all the way to the finish line to earn his first Pro Mod win.
Outlaw Pro Mod
Frankie “Madman” Taylor led the seven-car field of Outlaw Pro Mods with a 3.541 at 212.13 mph. In the number two spot was Randy Weatherford, debuting his new car. The finals saw these two battle it out to determine the baddest Outlaw Pro Mod of the weekend. Weatherford left the starting line with a huge advantage and ran his quickest elapsed time of the weekend, earning the win with a 3.566 at 211.00 mph to Taylor’s 3.631 at 202.09 mph.
Pro Nitrous
The Pro Nitrous class had its largest field of the year with fourteen cars on the property. Leading the field was past PDRA Pro Nitrous Champion Fredy Scriba with a 3.647 at 205.44 mph. Starting from the 14th spot, Cam Clark took out Scriba in round one, earned a bye in round two, and had a single in the semifinals when Billy Albert experienced issues after his burnout and was shut off. That set up a final against Dane Wood. Clark had a slight starting-line advantage, and the holeshot was enough to take the win over Wood. Clark ran 3.698 at 202.73 mph to Wood’s quicker but losing 3.691 at 201.46 mph.
Mountain Motor Pro Stock
The Mountain Motor “Maniacs” showed up in force with 23 entries vying for a spot on the 16-car ladder. Longtime class racer John DeFlorian was the top qualifier with a 4.034 at 178.50 mph. The finals featured number four qualifier Chris Powers against number three Jordan Ensslin. As they lined up, Powers left with a slight reaction-time advantage, and when both drivers ran identical 4.068 elapsed times, his better reaction secured the win light.
Funny Car
Dale Creasy led the eight-car field on race day but fell to Eric Stevens in round one. Number four qualifier Robert Bode and number seven Del Worsham worked their way to the finals. Both drivers had nearly identical reaction times, but Bode experienced problems down track, allowing Worsham to drive around him for the win.
Top Fuel
The seven-car field of Top Fuel was led by Lex Joon with a 3.160 at 245.32 mph. Joon carried that momentum to the finals, where he faced number six qualifier Kyle Satenstein. Satenstein left first with a .019 light and went on to run 3.137 at 273.83 mph to Joon’s 3.473 at 187.83 mph.
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